There are some good things to be said about walking. Not many, but some. Walking takes longer, for example, than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. I have a friend who's always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details. The utopian technologists foresee a future for us in which distance is annihilated. … To be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever, if you ask me. Edward Abbey
Morning y'all,
It's another blustery, grey day up top. The high yesterday reached 47 degrees. The overnight low was 39 degrees. It was 40 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received another .76 inches of rain and there is still patchy snow and ice remaining up top. Alum is pretty much clear, but there are a few sections that I'd suggest using Microspikes for. I'd imagine it'll be even less treacherous today, so get out and enjoy it!
I had a fantastic hike up Alum yesterday afternoon. The temperatures were unbelievable to me - I'd forgotten what consistent warmth felt like. I found myself bracing to go outside, only to be surprised by how incredible 70 degrees felt. It felt like a foreign concept to be in a t-shirt and shorts without feeling like a fool. It was a fantastic afternoon to hike up, with patches of ice strewn across the waterlogged ground and warm, heavy spring scented air - characteristic of the shift between the two seasons. I passed my last set of folks near Gracie's Pulpit (they caught me singing 'I Shall Be Released' as I hiked up, alone, I thought) and enjoyed the solitude of one of my final hikes up the mountain for the season. The winds really picked up on some of the ledges and the squally weather was on the horizon. It almost looked like a thunderstorm. Even if I refuse to believe what the calendar says, it now seems apparent that winter is winding down on the mountain. The real world doesn't lie.
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